Turn the Tide
by JPKisses
Summary: I can't believe I still receive so much affection from you side, if you could give me one more chance, I'd love to turn the tide.' Cheating!draco Cuckolded!harry Story's a little rushed, wrote this on a whim after hearing song by Sylver of the same name.


_When are you coming home?_

Draco looked at the files already put away for the day, his notes neatly stacked to let him know what he needed to see to first thing in the morning. He grabbed a quill and turned over his note from Harry.

_A few hours. I'm still at the office. You don't have to wait up._

_D_

Draco folded the note and gave it to their owl before setting the wards on his office and heading out the door.

***

Harry sighed dejectedly when he read Draco's response to his owl. He walked over to the dinner table and began picking up the cold food and burned out candles he'd set up for them. It was the 3rd time this week that Draco stayed late at the office, which surprised Harry considering Draco never bothered to before, even if he was working on something major.

Something niggled deep in Harry's gut, but he pushed it aside. Not much had changed since school. Draco was still an arse, yet he'd changed enough for Harry to know he was remorseful for everything that transpired during the war. It took Harry awhile to reach out to Draco, but he finally succeeded. Falling head over heals with him in the process.

After 2 years, Draco was still able to bring a flush to his cheeks and a flutter to his stomach with just one look. It was that love that kept Harry from investigating further into Draco's behavior. Instead, as he made his way upstairs to bed, he decided to wait up for his boyfriend and let him know how much his hard work was appreciated.

***

The sound of the Floo woke Hary from his sleep, alerting him to Draco's arrival. He quickly cast a spell and saw it was close to 1:00 in the morning.

"A few hours, my arse," he mumbled to himself. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as Draco murmured silencing spells to keep from waking Harry. He ceased his efforts when he saw that Harry was already awake.

"Where've you been?"

Harry tried to keep the hurt from his voice, but failing miserably. Draco didn't meet his gaze, undressing quietly and hanging his Solicitor's robes in the closet before reaching for fresh pants from their drawer.

"I told you. I had to work."

Harry frowned and watched Draco head toward the bathroom.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to shower, Harry!" Draco snapped. He slammed the door against Harry's confused look.

"Why?" Harry whispered, more to himself, knowing that Draco hadn't heard him over the shower starting.

***

Draco let out a heavy sigh as the steam relaxed away the tension in his shoulders. _What am I doing?_ He thought. He pressed his face against the cool tiles of the shower, staying under the spray of the warm water a few extra minutes before washing vigorously the foreign scents from his body and getting out.

He opened the door quietly, assuming that Harry would have gone back to sleep by now. He was right, and his heart clenched tightly as he watched Harry curled onto his side of the bed. Dark tufts of hair were spiked in every direction and his nose was buried in Draco's pillow. Draco eased himself gently next to his partner, wrapping his arms around his sleep-warmed lover.

Despite his earlier activities, his body began to react toward Harry's solid body, his unique aroma permeating Draco's senses. He pushed Harry against the mattress, both pleased yet guilt-ridden when Harry offered himself fully to Draco's advances.

***

"I think Draco's having an affair."

Harry brought his teacup up to his lips and took a sip, as if he'd just announced that morning's forecast instead of his lover's infidelity. Hermione blinked, her cup midway to her mouth.

"What?"

Harry calmly placed his cup back down.

"Draco…He's cheating on me…with some else." He explained as if to a child.

"I gathered that much, Harry. What makes you think so?" She inquired.

Harry shrugged, fiddling with his teacup distractedly.

"Certain things. Working late, yet not making much progress on his cases. Showering at odd times of the day, when he'd never would before… He even looks at me different, like he feels sorry for me or something." Harry frowned into his tea, Hermione keeping quiet as she studied her friend.

"What are you going to do?"

Harry snapped out from his brooding, before retaining an air of nonchalance again.

"Nothing." He said, bringing his cup up for another sip.

"Nothing?!" Hermione replied incredulously. "But don't you want to…"

"No. I don't." Harry said firmly. "I don't want to know who it is or why he's doing it. I'm sure he'll move on eventually and get it out of his system. I won't let this affect our relationship, Hermione." Harry took a deep breath in order to calm himself down. "Besides, Draco loves me. I know he does."

Hermione could only watch as Harry battled an internal struggle within himself over his feelings for his partner.

***

"I love you."

Harry lifted his head from where it was resting against Draco's chest to stare his lover in the eyes.

"I know." Harry replied, placing his head back onto Draco's chest, running his hand across the smooth expanse of his tight belly. It was a Sunday, so they'd spent most of the day making love, just like they always do. Draco wrapped his arms around Harry.

"I know you know, but I wanted to tell you anyway."

Harry lifted himself out of Draco's arms and perched himself on the edge of the bed, reaching for his discarded clothes.

"You know, Draco, actions speak louder than words." And with that he left the room. Draco's eyes clouded with shame as he stared after Harry's retreating figure. He still tried reconciling with himself why he was doing what he was doing, but the excuses just didn't hold merit anymore. Never had if he really thought about it.

Just then, a familiar owl swooped into the room from their open bedroom window, doing a full sweep of the room before dropping a note on Draco's lap. The owl was trained well, making sure Draco was alone before leaving his burden and quickly leaving without waiting for a reply.

Draco was already tempted to crumple the letter and toss out after the bird, willing to call the whole thing off, but Malfoy pride kept him from doing so. Instead, he opened the letter, memorized the time and place and quickly casting an _Incendio_ before banishing the ashes away. Draco dressed in his most sensible robes, Harry's words echoing over and over in his head. _Actions speak louder than words, actions speak louder than words…_ Harry was right, and it was as if he already knew what Draco was doing.

As Draco made his way downstairs, already conjuring up an excuse to give to Harry on why he was missing tea, he decided to end it. This was the last time. This fear that he had of Harry owning all of him wasn't good enough anymore. Malfoy pride be damned. He was Harry's and that's all he needed. His brave Gryffindor who wore his emotions on his sleeve, and wasn't afraid to show what he was feeling, unlike Draco. Just once more he would allow himself an attempt at control. After that it was going to stop. He'd make sure of it.

"You're leaving?" Harry exclaimed from his place at the stove, Draco flying past him as he put on his traveling cloak.

"I have to take care of something, Potter. I won't be long, I promise."

"Draco…" Harry pleaded but Draco wasn't going to be deterred. He needed this, just one more time. It wasn't even about the sex anymore.

"Draco, don't. Please, don't leave." Draco almost stopped, almost went back. Thinking about it now, he realized he should have, but he didn't. Instead, he turned away from Harry, disappearing with a loud pop.

Harry hung his head and let out a soft sob, tears flowing freely down his face. He wiped the tears from his face at the sound of the floo, Hermione and Ron stepping out with a bottle of wine in their hands.

"Hey, mate!" Ron greeted cheerily, not noticing the distraught look on his friend's face. Hermione, however, noticed immediately.

"Harry, what's wrong? Where's Draco?" She asked looking around the kitchen to see if any damage had been done.

"He's gone," Harry croaked. Ron looked around, trying to be angry yet confused at the same time. He knew Harry was hurt, and that Draco was to blame but that was it. Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry's quivering frame.

"Is he coming back?" She asked softly. Harry sniffled and wiped the rest of his tears away.

"I'm sure he is." He stated, walking towards the stairs. "Come on, I'm going to need some help packing my stuff." Hermione and Ron quickly exchanged sad glances before following up after him.

***

"What do you mean, it's over?"

Draco glanced at his now ex-lover, who was currently rubbing at his sore wrists, Draco having rid him harder than usual.

"It's over, Nott. I'm not going to do this anymore; whatever we had between us is over. What part of that do you not understand?" Draco bit out. "So don't owl me, don't floo me, don't ever contact me again." He had nothing more to say as he pulled on his robes, quickly apparating back to Harry.

It was too quiet when he entered the house.

"Harry?" He called out, making his way upstairs after finding the kitchen empty. Despite trying to keep his emotions in check, he couldn't fight the wave of panic that was bubbling up in his chest as he walked into the empty bedroom he and Harry shared. After taking a precursory look around, he ran to their armoire. He tore open drawer after drawer, violently slamming shut the closet after realizing Harry's stuff no longer occupied their room. He fell to his knees, trying to keep the tide of what he'd just driven Harry to do from consuming him whole.

***6 Months Later***

The cool voice of the Ministry's elevator announcing their stop at Auror Headquarters had Draco's heart rate spiking. Because the Auror office dealt regularly with the Solicitor's office, Draco still saw Harry on a regular basis. Still saw Harry's emerald green eyes, and heard his soft lilting voice as he greeted Draco warmly even after everything he did to him.

Draco cleared his throat to get Harry's assistant to look up at him. He narrowed his eyes upon seeing Draco standing there. It seemed everyone in the Ministry was well aware of what Malfoy had done to their Golden Boy, although not through Harry himself. Draco figured it had something to do with the Weasel. The ginger-headed git never did like him, though Draco could scarcely blame him now.

The mousy-haired assistant pressed a button on his desk and motioned for Draco to go in. Draco gave the assistant his best sneer before proceeding into Harry's office.

"Hello, Draco." Harry greeted. He came around his desk and wrapped his arms around Draco. Draco didn't reciprocate, he never did. Only because it still stunned him that amount of affection he received from Harry. Even through the warm feelings Harry displayed, Draco knew that Harry was out of his grasp. He'd begged and pleaded enough after he left, all to no avail.

"Potter." Draco replied. Harry gave him a smile that never failed to touch a place deep inside him.

"Here are the rest of my reports on the raid, hopefully they will be enough for you to finish prosecuting your case." Harry said, placing the files in Draco's hands. Draco thumbed through them casually to buy time. He didn't want to leave Harry's presence just yet.

_How could I have been so stupid!_ He chastised himself. If only Harry would give him another chance.

"Well they look well enough in order," Draco smirked, the Malfoy mask firmly in place. Harry rolled his eyes and smiled. And it was that smile that prompted Draco to do what he did next. He leaned forward and captured Harry's lips in a warm yet chaste kiss.

"Come home. Please." Draco whispered softly against Harry's mouth. "Please."

Emerald green locked with slate gray and a thousand words and apologies were felt in that gaze. Harry leaned his forehead against Draco's.

"Okay."

Draco breathed a heavy sigh of relief, realizing just then that he'd been holding that breath for 6 months. He cupped Harry's face before taking his lips in for a deeper kiss, which Harry returned enthusiastically.

Fin

_You have the bravest heart  
The strongest emotions  
After all the harm I've caused  
You still want my lovin'_

_I think I've lost your love_  
_Oh baby, it's a shame_  
_But how can I be mad at you_  
_When I'm the one to blame_

_I can't believe_  
_I still receive_  
_So much affection from your side_  
_If you could give me one more chance_  
_I'd love to turn the tide_


End file.
